RAILWAY AGE, NOVEMBER 2020 ISSUE: Cindy Sanborn, a seasoned railroader who Norfolk Southern Chairman, President and CEO Jim Squires described as “one of the freight rail industry’s leading operations experts,” became the railroad’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer on Sept. 1, 2020. Mike Wheeler, Sanborn’s predecessor, retired on Oct. 1, 2020, after a 35-year career at the railroad.
Union Pacific has reported third-quarter 2020 financial and operating results that “represent another step in our company’s transformation,” Chairman, President and CEO Lance Fritz said, emphasizing the positive aspects of what was largely a difficult quarter.
After two years as Union Pacific’s (UP) Chief Operating Officer, Jim Vena will become a Senior Advisor at the end of the year. Eric Gehringer is succeeding him and will become Executive Vice President-Operations on Jan. 1.
It’s not the plastic water bottle that causes the most harm to sea birds, but the cap, which is mistaken for food. A non-profit in Hawaii ensured that more than 1.2 million plastic caps and lids will never get into the environment and harm sea birds by taking action to collect and recycle them. But this is no ordinary type of recycling, which aims to turn a plastic product back into another plastic product with the addition of more plastic.
OmniTRAX is bringing the Rail-Ready Sites program to its 45-mile Brownsville & Rio Grande International Railway (BRG) in Cameron County, Texas. The Broe Group affiliate is partnering with Greater Brownsville Economic Development Corp. (GBEDC) to connect rail-served properties with customers interested in locating in the area—near the Port of Brownsville and Mexico.
Metra has filed a lawsuit against Union Pacific (UP), which operates several of its commuter rail lines, for breach of contract in Cook County (Ill.) Circuit Court.
Union Pacific has named Rahul Jalali as Chief Information Officer; Jon Panzer, who served as interim CIO, becomes Senior Vice President, Strategic Planning. RailPros has hired Mark Wheeland as Senior Vice President, Service Delivery.
Union Pacific has resumed ticket sales along the Metra lines it operates under contract (UP North, Northwest and West) and is requiring riders to show valid tickets as they board outbound trains or arrive at the Ogilvie Transportation Center (OTC) in Chicago.
The Surface Transportation Board has determined that five of the “Big 7” U.S. Class I railroads achieved revenue adequacy in 2019: BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern, Soo Line (the U.S. affiliate of Canadian Pacific) and Union Pacific. STB determined that those Class I’s achieved a rate of return on investment (ROI) equal to or greater than the Board’s calculation of the average cost of capital for the freight rail industry, which for 2019 is 9.34%.
The Pacific Harbor Line, Inc. (PHL), an Anacostia Rail Holdings Co. subsidiary, has signed a new five-year labor agreement with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET).